


Chasing Chariots

by TremendousNerd



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: AU where Ryuji's leg injury wasn't that bad, Aged-Up Character(s), Akira is 23, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, High School, Kamoshida is still a piece of shit, M/M, Ryuji is still 16, Teacher-Student Relationship, There are no Personas there is only track team, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-13 00:51:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11173563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TremendousNerd/pseuds/TremendousNerd
Summary: 23 year old Akira Kurusu joins Shujin Academy as its new assistant coach where he is unexpectedly put in charge of restoring the school's track team to its glory days. This is the story of his relationship with the team's star runner, Ryuji Sakamoto.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be honest, I don't know a damn thing about track or what it's like working at a Japanese high school. This story will mostly focus on Ryuji and Akira's relationship (which is what most of you prefer I'm sure).

“Well, here it goes” Akira muttered to himself.

Today would be his first day at his new job as an assistant coach at Shujin Academy. He was lucky to have gotten hired at such a prestigious prep school so soon after graduating, being just 23 years old and having no previous work experience in this field. This would be his first job that wasn’t at a convenience shop or restaurant.

Akira knocked on the wooden door in front of him.

“Come in” he heard a friendly voice say.

He pushed the door to the principal’s office open and was greeted with the sight of a familiar large balding man. He had previously met principal Kobayakawa during his first interview for the job at Shujin.

“Akira” the large man gave a bow “Please, have a seat and we’ll further discuss your role at Shujin Academy”

Akira smiled and motioned to sit down, but before his butt managed to touch the chair a large muscular man entered the office.

“You wanted to see me principal Kobayakawa?” the man asked.

“Suguru-san! Wonderful, with you both here we can get down to business immediately” the principal smiled.

“I’d like to introduce you to the new assistant coach I told you about. His name is Akira Kurusu,” the principal gestured towards him. “Akira, this man is Suguru Kamoshida. You will be working under him while you’re here. He has quite the impressive record, as I’m sure you will find out soon enough.”

“Pleased to meet you” Akira stood, offering the man his hand.

“This scrawny thing is my assistant coach?” Kamoshida gave him a look of disgust. “He almost looks like he could be a student here.”

Akira felt awkward as the man left him standing there without shaking his hand. What an asshole this man was, he couldn’t help but think.

“Suguru-san, there’s no need to be rude,” the principal chided the muscular man “Akira is well qualified for his position.”

“I’m sure he is” Kamoshida gave Akira a fake smile.

“Your main job will be to help Mr. Kamoshida with his duties, you remember what that entails yes?” the principal questioned.

“Of course.” Akira nodded.

“Good. Now in addition to assisting Kamoshida, I’d like to task you with rebuilding our school’s track team.”

This was a surprise. He hadn’t expected to be given his own team to coach so soon.

“What?” Kamoshida chimed in but the principal just ignored him.

“We had quite a few talented runners on our team last year. They could have even made it to nationals, but after an unfortunate incident I was forced to disband the team.”

“You can’t be serious principal,” Kamoshida reacted with obvious anger in his voice “those losers had their chance last year and they blew it! My Volleyball team is all this school needs.”

“Now, now Kamoshida” Principal Kobayakawa gleamed at the muscular man “don’t you think the track team has been punished long enough for the actions of one misguided student?”

Kamoshida merely grunted in defiance.

“That aside, I’ll leave it up to you to recruit the new team Kurusu-san,” the large man reached for Akira’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze “I trust your judgment on the matter.”

“Thank you sir! I’ll do my best” Akira smiled at the principal.

“Now, before you’re officially ready to begin your first day here at Shujin Academy we must introduced you to the rest of the staff,” said the principal “Please follow me to to the faculty office”

The three of them exited the office and Akira followed the man as he led him through the school, Kamoshida split off in the other direction and disappeared around the corner muttering about how this was all wasting his time. Akira was glad to see him go, but he knew he would be spending a lot of time with the grumpy man. He was being hired to assist the man after all.

The two came to a stop outside the teacher’s office as principal Kobayakawa opened the door.

“Everyone,” the man called the room to attention “today we’re hiring our new assistant coach and track team organizer Akira Kurusu”

Several people came up to Akira and began introducing themselves.

“I’m Mr. Ushimaru and I teach Social Studies. A pleasure to meet you.” said a middle aged man with glasses.

“Mr. Hiruta, I teach Biology” a younger man no more than 30 said.

“Good to meet you, I’m Ms. Chouno and I teach English.” said an attractive woman with long hair, maybe ten years older than Akira.

More and more people continued to introduce themselves. With so many new names and faces to remember, Akira knew it would take him a while to be able to keep track of them all. After the room finally settled down and everyone had given him an introduction, Kobayakawa took him aside and briefly went over all of the duties he was expected to preform while working at Shujin once again.

“Do you have any questions?” Kobayakawa asked finally.

“No sir, I think I’m all set” said Akira.

“Good. Your own office is to the left and at the very end of the hall, you can’t miss it. Kamoshida will help you get set up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to” the large man said and began to leave.

That’s right, he would be sharing an office with Kamoshida. Akira groaned inwardly. The man already didn’t like him and he hadn’t even done anything. Working with him so closely every day would not be a pleasant experience.

“It’s nice to meet you” Akira heard a voice from behind him say. Distracted from his thoughts, he turned to see a short woman with shoulder length frizzy hair who looked to be in her mid to late 20s.

“I’m Sadayo Kawakami, I teach Japanese here at Shujin” she gave him a smile. She hadn’t been among the large group of teachers who introduced themselves already. Did she get here while he was talking to principal Kobayakawa?

“Thank you,” Akira responded. “I’m Akira Kurusu, I’m the new assistant coach”

“Oh, I got the memo a few days ago” she smiled “Sorry I wasn’t here when you were first introduced. I woke up a little later than usual this morning.”

“That’s not a big deal” Akira replied.

“So I heard that you were told to reinstate the school’s track team?” Kawakami questioned.

“I was.” he nodded “Do you know much about the former members of the track team? Or better yet, do you know what happened last year?” Akira asked. He had yet to find out any information on why the team was disbanded, something he thought he should do before he asked any of the former members to join the new team.

“Well there’s not a lot to say about most of the team. They’re all good students, excluding the troublemaker who got the group disbanded to begin with.” Sadayo gave a small sigh at the last part.

“Who was responsible for that?” Akira questioned

“That was Ryuji Sakamoto” she answered “He assaulted Kamoshida after an argument involving his father, the resulting fight ended with Sakamoto-kun falling and breaking his leg.”

“His father? Akira questioned “What about his father?”

“From what I’ve heard Sakamoto-kun’s dad isn’t exactly father of the year material” she pursed her lips “Apparently Kamoshida told Sakamoto-kun that one day he would grow up to be exactly like his father, and that’s when it all happened.”

“Was he he suspended?” Akira asked

“He was for a while, but he needed most of that time to recover from his injury anyway” she paused “Since he returned to school this year he’s been a completely different student.”

“How so?” he wondered aloud.

“For starters, he dyed his hair and changed the way he dresses. He looks like the delinquents you see in gangs, minus the piercing and tattoos. He never had the best manners to begin with, but he used to be a very kind boy back when he dedicated himself to the track team...” Kawakami tailed off. She was obviously unhappy about the direction the teens life had been going in.

Before Akira could ask any more details, the bell rang.

“Ugh, already?” Kawakami moaned. “Well, time to go to work I guess. It was good chatting with you, we should do it again sometime” the dark haired woman gave him a friendly smile as she left the faculty office.

Akira agreed to speak with her again later as he followed her through the door, Kawakami heading to her class and he to his shared office with Kamoshida.

Upon entering he sighed in relief, the office wasn’t as small as he had been expecting. He was glad Shujin would at least give him a decent place to do his paperwork.

“You’re here,” Kamoshida said as he noticed the younger man enter the room “Your desk is over there with last years performance records stacked on it.” He pointed to a tiny desk in the corner of the room.

“You’ll find what you need to know about about all the former track team members in those files, read them quietly and leave me alone.”

Akira stood there for a moment trying to think of a way to respond to the man’s harsh attitude towards him, but thought better of it. There was no need to pick a fight with his co-worker on his first day.

There were only three folders on his desk. Was the track team really so small last year? He guessed the previous team could have been composed of mostly third years but that seemed unlikely.

Resigning himself to his assigned task, he sat at the tiny desk and began pouring through each player’s record. The first two were okay, they would likely never set any records but their performance was nothing to be ashamed of. The most promising was the third profile, a boy named Nakaoka. His performance on the field was good to say the least, but Akira found it strange principal Kobayakawa thought the team could have made it to nationals. Nakaoka’s times were good, but he feared Nationals would be just out of this boy’s reach. Had the team’s real talent graduated already?

Come to think of it, hadn’t Kawakami told him there was a boy named Ryuji Sakamoto on the team last year? He couldn’t have graduated already, she said he was attending school this year. Where was his profile?

“Kamoshida-san?” Akira tried to get the man’s attention

The large man either pretended not to hear him or was so engrossed in whatever it was he had been doing he didn’t hear him.

“Mr. Kamoshida?” He tried again, this time louder.

“I thought I told you to leave me alone?” the muscular man barked in annoyance.

“This isn’t all of the files for the track team, the one for Ryuji Sakamoto is missing” Akira ignored the man’s rude tone.

“I must have forgot that one” the older man said with a smile.

“Where is his file?” Akira asked

“In the cabinet, where the rest of them are.” Kamoshida rolled his eyes and went back to his work.

It only took him a moment to find the file he was looking for. As he skimmed through the teen’s profile he was surprised by the numbers he saw. Nakaoka was impressive to be sure, but this Ryuji boy was the true talent on last year’s team. He realized that if he was going to make a team that had any chance of making it to nationals like the principal was hoping for, he would need someone with Ryuji’s abilities to spearhead it. This kid had set records.

Kawakami told him the boy was a delinquent, but Akira didn’t care. Talent like this couldn’t be passed up because of a hormonal teenager’s bad attitude. His only concern was the injury the teen had sustained last year. Ryuji’s profile didn’t reveal the severity of his injury, Akira guessed he would just have to find the boy and ask him about it himself.

 

* * *

 

 

The second years were the last PE class of the day, like each one before it Akira expected this one to be forced into a barbaric version of dodge ball where Kamoshida yells about how pathetic the students are and hits them with balls hard enough to leave bruises. Akira had tried to protest the larger man’s behavior at first, but he received a ball directly to the face and a ‘no pain, no gain’ speech for his actions. The tape holding his broken glasses together was at least evidence of his attempts to stop this madness. Afterwards Kamoshida had treated Akira like his personal towel boy for most of the day.

He was surprised when Kamoshida decided he would leave this class for Akira to teach on his own so the muscular man could take the Volleyball team members for a “special training” session. None of the team members were happy about this news, but the rest of the class seemed enthusiastic about having a different PE teacher for the day.

He was glad to receive such a welcoming response from the class, but after witnessing Kamoshida’s teaching methods he wasn’t surprised.

“How about we play some soccer today instead?” he asked the class to great fanfare.

 

* * *

 

 

After class ended everyone seemed exhausted, but clearly they were happy with today’s activities compared to whatever it was Kamoshida had been doing with them.

“Good game class,” Akira yelled “Everyone but Nakaoka, Takeishi, Ryuji and Kouki is free to hit the showers, go home, or continue to whatever clubs you’re a member of. You four please come see me.”

As the rest of the students began to leave, three of the four boys he called for gathered around him.

“Who’s missing?” Akira asked, not knowing the faces of any of the boys yet.

“Ryuji,” one boy scoffed “He never comes to PE anymore.”

“And you are?” Akira asked.

“Nakaoka” the boy replied.

“You’re all members of the track team, right?” Akira asked and they each nodded.

“Alright, tell me who is who here? I need a name to go with each face” Akira questioned the other boys.

After a brief introduction Akira thought it best to get to the point and ask the former members of the track team if they were interested in rejoining.

“Heck yes I am!” Nakaoka cheered, the other boys sharing his sentiment.

“Good. First practice is tomorrow after school. I’m told you all have a lot of talent, so I expect hard work and dedication from each of you.” he paused for a moment “Now can someone tell me where I can find Ryuji Sakamoto?”

“Who knows” Nakaoka grunted.

“He never leaves the school building when the rest of us go to gym. If Kamoshida didn’t hate him so much he’d never get away with it.” Takeishi answered.

“Is he unable to walk?” Akira questioned the boys “I understand he was injured, but I haven’t been told the extent of his injuries.”

“Nah he can walk just fine,” Nakaoka responded “He’s just too chicken to show his face around us anymore.”

“After he got the team disbanded for hitting Kamoshida-san.” Akira stated.

“You’re not going to invite that loser to rejoin the team too are you?” Nakaoka asked with disdain in his voice

“I am.” Akira said “If his previous injury isn’t an issue, I think he will be an extremely valuable member of the new track team.”

“Don’t bother, the team didn’t need him then and it doesn’t need him now.” Nakaoka scoffed

“This isn’t your decision to make Nakaoka-kun” Akira responded “Sakamoto-kun set the highest record on the entire team. I won’t leave him out just because you’re unwilling to let bygones be bygones.”

“But-” the boy was interrupted.

“You’re free to go now Nakaoka-kun” Akira said, annoyed with the teen.

After his conversation with the boys, Akira left the gym and entered the practice building in search of his last track team member. He didn’t get far before he ran into a familiar face.

“Sadayo-san!” Akira called out to the woman he had met earlier “Do you know where I can find Sakamoto-kun?”

“He’s probably on the roof again,” Kawakami groaned “He’s been caught up there several times already.”

“What’s he doing on the roof?” Akira questioned

“Honestly I couldn't say. It wouldn’t surprise me anymore if he’s up there smoking or doing drugs.” she seemed saddened by how the boy had turned out. Was this kid really that bad? Sure he had hit Kamoshida, but after knowing the man for a single day he could hardly blame anyone for wanting to do that.

“Right. Well thanks for the tip, I’ll go see if he’s up there. Maybe I can catch him before he heads home” Akira said

“Are you going to ask him to join the new track team?” she questioned him.

“Yep!” he said as he began to walk away.

“Good luck” he heard the teacher say as he left the practice building and headed back to the main school building.

Akira made his way though the corridor and up to the third floor, from there he took the stairs to the roof and came across a large door with a ‘Keep Out’ sign in it. Apparently the boy really didn’t care for the rules, either that or he couldn’t read.

As he pushed the door open, the first thing he heard was girl’s voice.

“I told you, it’s not like that! I’m not dating him!” a blond haired girl was shouting at a blond haired boy.

The boy didn’t respond, his attention now drawn to the stranger that had intruded on their private conversation.

“Who’re you?” asked the boy sitting at an old desk in the corner near the air conditioning unit.

“Oh I know you,” the blond girl said as she turned to face Akira “You’re that new assistant coach the school hired, right?”

“Yes. I’m Akira Kurusu” he said with a smile. The girl was extremely beautiful.

“I’m Ann Takamaki,” she smiled in return “And this guy over here is Ryuji Sakamoto” she gestured to the blond boy in the corner who promptly stood up.

Akira got his first good look at Ryuji. The boy was about the same height as himself, maybe slightly shorter. He wore a modified version of the Shujin uniform and Akira noticed a strange leather wristband on his right arm. His obviously dyed blond hair was cut short and his features masculine. Akira thought he was handsome, but it looked like Kawakami may have been right about him. Maybe he was just a rebellious punk after all.

“What do you want.” Ryuji barked rudely. It wasn’t a really question, he clearly didn’t care about the answer.

“Oh that’s right,” Ann interjected “they told us we couldn’t come up here anymore this year. He probably wants us to leave.”

“No, that’s not it.” Akira replied “But I do think it would be better for both of you if you paid attention to any future ‘Keep Out’ signs you encounter, if only for your own safety.”

“So whaddya want then?” Ryuji asked, this time actually curious to know.

“I’m actually here to talk to you Sakamoto-kun,” Akira said as he looked the boy in the eye “If you’re willing to listen that is.”

Ryuji just glared at him.

“Okay, I’ll leave you two alone then. I need to go meet up with Shiho anyway” Ann said goodbye to Ryuji and gathered her things “It was nice to meet you Mr. Kurusu”

“Hopefully this one’s not as bad as Kamoshida” he heard Ann say under her breath as she exited the rooftop.

His senior had a poor reputation among even the girls of Shujin Academy it seemed.

“Ann is a very pretty young woman” Akira said “Is she your girlfriend?” he asked Ryuji

“Figures,” the blond growled “The school hired another shitty perverted teacher. She ain’t my girlfriend, you’ll have to fight Kamoshida over her if you want her” he said with disgust.

“Kamoshida?” Akira questioned. Was he dating a student? No he can’t be. At least not Ann anyway, the way she talked about him as she left made it clear that she despised the man.

“Get to the point already. I wanna know what you want with me so I can go home.” Ryuji obviously didn’t like him very much.

“Right, I’m sorry about that. I’ve been appointed as the coach of the newly reinstated track team. If you’re medically cleared, I’d love to have you back on the team” Akira smiled at the boy

“Hell no!” Ryuji yelled in anger, his reaction startling Akira. That wasn’t the answer he had been expecting.

“But why?” the dark haired man questioned hesitantly, fearing the boys leg would prevent him from ever playing the sport again.

“I ain’t a moron,” the angry boy gritted his teeth “You’re probably just here on Kamoshida’s orders. I bet you got some hilarious plan to get me expelled. Well I’m not falling for it!”

“I’m not working with Kamoshida on this, he has nothing to do with the plans to reinstate the track team.” Akira said. Was the boy paranoid, or did he just hate Kamoshida that much after his role in Ryuji’s injury?

“Yeah whatever. You shitty adults are all the same,” the blond said “You’re all just out for yourselves.”

“Ryuji I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. This has nothing to do with Kamoshida, I’m giving you another chance to join the track team, another chance at that scholarship you were set to receive.” He hoped the angry boy would listen to reason and accept the offer, but he still didn’t know if Ryuji was actually going to be able to run anymore after the injury he suffered.

“I don’t need the fucking track team and I don’t need Kamoshida’s shitty lackey messing around with my life!” The vulgar boy yelled and turned to leave. He stormed through the door and down the stairs at a pace that suggested he would probably be capable of running again.

That’s reassuring. Maybe this wasn’t all for nothing, even if it wouldn’t be as easy as he hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know where I want this story to end up, but I haven't figured out how to get it there yet. Because of this I may sometimes be slow about updating. If you have any ideas I would love to hear them, maybe you will inspire me. :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira, unsatisfied with the way Ryuji rejected his offer to join the team, decides to pay the boy's home a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so amazing! There were so many comments on the last chapter it just blew me away. Hope you all enjoy this one as much as the last one!

Akira double checked the location on his phone as made his way up the stairs of the apartment building. Apartment 307. That’s the address the school had for Ryuji Sakamoto and his mother.

The building was a bit older and it didn’t have an elevator, as he continued onto the second set of stairs he thought the leg injury Ryuji had experienced. It must have been extremely difficult for the boy just to get home while he was still recovering.

Moments later he made it to the third floor. The halls of the building were bland and didn’t have a lot of decoration, but they weren’t expected to in a building like this. He walked a short distance, scanning the numbers on each door before he finally came to apartment 307.

“This must be it.” he said and reached forward to ring the doorbell.

“Ryuji, can you get the door?” he heard a muffled woman’s voice say.

“Got it!” a familiar voice responded. He sounded much closer than the woman. It took only a brief moment before the door swung open, revealing the teen. His expression immediately darkened when he recognized Akira.

“Good afternoon Sakamoto-kun” Akira smiled at him.

“Fuck no!” Ryuji shouted before slamming the door in his face.

“Language Ryuji!” the muffled woman’s voice could be heard again “And did you just shut the door on someone? I thought I raised you better than that!”

Akira wasn’t exactly surprised by the boys reaction, he had said earlier he didn’t want Akira meddling in his life. Undeterred, he rang the bell again.

Moments later the door opened again, this time a slender dark haired woman who seemed to be in her mid to late 30’s answered with an apologetic smile. She looked barely 5 feet tall, Akira had to bend his neck down just to look her in the eye.

“I am so sorry for my son’s rudeness.” she said with an angry glance at Ryuji that almost made the boy shrink down to her size. “Please forgive him.”

“That’s alright ma’am” Akira bowed slightly “I can understand Sakamoto-kun’s reaction to me being here.”

“Let me introduce myself” he spoke before she could question how he knew her son “I’m Akira Kurusu, the new assistant coach at Shujin. I’ve been put in charge of reforming the track team and I’d very much like your son to join again if he’s still physically able.”

Ryuji’s mom stared at him for a moment as she fully processed what he had just said.

“That’s wonderful news!” she exclaimed suddenly “We were just about to have dinner, why don’t you come in and eat with us and we’ll talk more?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to intrude” Akira said apologetically. His intention had been to let Ryuji’s mother know her son had a place on the new team. With the track scholarship being available to him again, he figured she would do all the convincing for him.

“Nonsense! With news like this I wouldn’t have complained if you had shown up in the middle of the night. Now please, come in” she grabbed him by the arm and practically dragged him inside. For such a small woman, she was incredibly strong.

“Please, have a seat while I go finish preparing dinner.” she smiled at Akira and gestured to a small table with four chairs in the corner of the kitchen “Ryuji, sit with our guest. And please don’t be rude again.” she added with a stern face.

“Yes ma’am...” Ryju groaned at his mother. Clearly he knew arguing with the woman wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Akira guessed he had no choice but to stay for dinner now. It beat having instant ramen alone, he supposed. He and Ryuji each took a seat at opposite ends of the small table. The moment he sat down Ryuji buried his head in defeat, while Akira glanced around what he could see of the modest apartment.

It wasn’t that big. There was the kitchen/dining room that he sat in now, a living area joining it, and a short hall at the other end of the living area with with doors on either side of it and one at the end. He assumed those rooms were two bedrooms and a single bathroom.

“So why don’t you tell me what you really want with me?” Ryuji asked, interrupting Akira as he scanned his surroundings.

Akira sighed. “I told you earlier at school, I want you on the new track team. I’m asking all the old members who are still at Shujin to come back.”

“Why would that effin’ Kamoshida agree to reinstate the track team after what happened last year?” Ryuji asked.

“As I explained earlier, Kamoshida has nothing to do with the plans to reinstate the track team. It was actually the principal’s idea. Kamoshida was against it from the beginning and it’s been a source of tension between myself and him all day.”

Ryuji again buried his face in his arms. He didn’t seem angry at Akira for being here anymore. If anything, it seemed to depress him?

“Even if that’s true,” he heard Ryui’s muffled voice say “You said you were gettin’ all the old track members to join again. That’ll never work out, they all hate me after what I did.”

“They don’t have to be your friends if they don’t want to, but I have no intention of letting them bully you over your past mistakes. Let me worry about the other boys.” Akira said. He knew from his conversation with Nakaoka yesterday he would need to be a mediator if Ryuji joined the team, but he originally thought Ryuji would be the one causing all the trouble. Now he wasn’t so sure. The blond clearly had an attitude problem and distrusted authority figures, but Akira wasn’t convinced he wasn’t a bad guy at all. Especially after meeting the boy’s mother.

Ryuji yelled and stood up suddenly. “No way, I don’t need some teacher fightin’ my battles for me!”

“Ryuji dear, don’t yell at your coach.” Ryuji’s mom said as she finally returned with a tray of food in each hand.

“He’s not my coach! I already told him I don’t want to join his stupid team.” Ryuji insisted.

Mrs. Samakoto sighed “Ryuji, I want the three of us to talk things over before you decide that.” the woman pleaded “Can you at least do that for me before you say no?”

Ryuji’s face fell “I guess...”

“Good.” she smiled and placed a hand on his cheek.“Now go set the table for me.”

Ryuji nodded and got up to do as his mother had asked.

“You look so young to be working at the school” Mrs. Sakamoto said as she sat in her son’s vacant seat “I almost would have thought you to be one of my son’s classmates, not a teacher. How old are you Kurusu-san?”

“I’m 23,” Akira smiled at the woman “Today was my first day working at Shujin.”

“Congratulations,” she smiled “How did your first day go?”

“I’m not sure how to answer that” he paused “I enjoyed my time with the students, and most of the staff was very friendly towards me.”

“Were there problems?” she questioned.

“I’m the assistant coach under Suguru Kamoshida. The man has been hard to work with...” he trailed off, his hand instinctively reaching up to touch his still broken glasses. He would need to find his spares once he returned home.

Ryuji’s mom gasped. “Did he break your glasses?”

Akira nodded.

“Kamoshida is a piece of shit!” Ryuji exclaimed as he placed placed an empty plate and some silverware in front of Akira, then again for his mom and himself before taking a seat between the two.

Akira had expected the teen’s mother to chastise him for his language again, but she simply pursed her lips.

“It looks like that’s something we all agree on.” Akira said quietly.

“Heh.” Ryuji gave him the biggest grin he had ever seen. “Maybe you ain’t so bad after all man.”

Akira smiled in return. It felt like the boy was finally warming up to him.

As the three of them began their meal, Akira was surprised by how much food Ryuji’s mother had prepared. They had beef, rice and a mix of vegetables all in large quantities.

“Mrs. Sakamoto, your food is delicious.” Akira said after he took his first bite.

“Yeah, mom’s the best cook I know.” Ryuji spoke with his mouth full of food.

“Ryuji, don’t talk with your mouth full.” Mrs. Sakamoto said with a look of horror on her face “But thank you, both of you.” she smiled and they continued their meal.

Akira had barely finished half his plate before Ryuji was diving back in for seconds. The boy had a voracious appetite, he thought that likely to be the reason his mother had made such a large amount of food for so few people.

“Dude, you should eat more,” Ryuji said after he finished his second plate and Akira his first. “No wonder you don’t have much muscle on you, you eat as little as my mom usually does!”

It was true Akira was pretty slim, but he had enough muscle tone that he considered himself in good shape. If he had to describe himself he would say he had a swimmers build, though he didn’t swim.

“Ryuji I told you not to be rude.” his mother sighed in frustration.

“Aw, mom I’m not bein' rude. Just givin’ him some advice.” Ryuji said with a frown.

“That’s alright Mrs. Sakamoto,” Akira replied “Ryuji isn’t wrong, but I’m comfortable with the muscle mass I have now. I prefer to focus more on toning.”

“Boys, why don’t we discuss what Mr. Kurusu came here for?” Ryuji’s mother said. She was obviously very interested in having her son join the team again.

“Right, the track team.” Akira laughed “As I’ve already said, I very much want your son to be on it if he’s willing to participate.”

“Just why do you want me on the new team so bad anyway?” Ryuji questioned. “I mean, why come all the way to my house? Couldn’t you find some new talent to join from the first years easier than this?”

“Honestly, it’s because of your record from last year. The principal wants a team that can compete on the national level and further the school’s reputation. When I read your file it was obvious to me that if anyone on the previous team was worth getting back, it would be you. You’re the only one that has the talent to take this school to nationals.” Akira’s words made Ryuji turn a shade of pink and sink into his chair a little.

“He would have taken team to nationals last year if not for Kamoshida’s meddling” Mrs. Sakamoto spoke up.

“What exactly happened anyway?” Akira asked “I know the school’s version of events, but something tells me there’s more to what happened they they like to admit.” In truth, the only person at the school who had been willing to discuss this issue with him at all was Kawakami, and she didn’t know nearly as much as he had hoped.

“It all started when Kamoshida got the previous track coach fired for some bullshit reason,” Ryuji said quietly “Then he took over and started giving us these insane workout routines. When we couldn’t do ‘em, he just added more to the pile. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and challenged him on it. It was pretty obvious to me that he just didn’t like us and he wanted the school to focus more on his Volleyball team. And then... I don’t know how he found out about it, but he---”

“He brought my ex-husband into it.” Ryuji’s mom spoke for her son. “The man was an abusive alcoholic. I left him when Ryuji was 9 years old so that the two of us could build a better life.”

“Yeah…” Ryuji said “Kamoshida started sayin’ shit like I’d turn out to be just like him, a pathetic drunk who beats his wife and kid. That’s when I lost it and hit him. He claims he didn’t mean to hurt me, that he was just trying to defend himself, but I know that’s bullshit. I realize now he was trying to goad me into attacking him all along so he could get rid of us.”

“If that’s true, why didn’t you take any legal action?” Akira wondered.  
  
“What could I have done?” Mrs. Sakamoto replied “Ryuji already admitted to assaulting the man first. As far as the school is concerned the matter was settled with a short suspension and the disbanding of the track team.”

“I’m sorry things turned out that way,” Akira said “I can’t change what happened before, but I can offer you another chance. With your abilities, I believe you can still get the track scholarship you were up for last year. I can’t promise it won’t require a lot of hard work, but I swear to you I won’t let Kamoshida interfere with the team again.”

They sat in silence for a while before Akira spoke again. “So what do you say Ryuji, do you want to be the ace of the track team again?”

“Ryuji,” Mrs. Sakamoto said “Before you answer him let me say this first. When you were on the team last year you were always so happy, and seeing you happy made me happy. You don’t have to join the new team if that’s not what you really want, but I know things this year haven’t been easy on you,” she paused “Maybe going back to the team now could help things return to normal for you again?”

“I dunno. I guess it could...” Ryuji sighed.

“What about his leg?” Akira questioned “Could it be a problem for him if he returned to the team?”

“The doctor said his leg should be fine, after it healed he would have no limitations and would be able to play any sport he wanted.” Mrs. Sakamoto finally gave him an answer to the question he had been

asking Ryuji all day. “The only thing stopping him from joining the new team is his pride.”

“I don’t know why you’re so damn insistent on getting me back on the team, all I’ve ever been good at is messing things up for those guys...” Ryuji suddenly got up and left the dinner table, walking through the house and heading into the room on the left in the hall, shutting the door behind him.

Ryuji’s mother sighed. “He’s blamed himself for the disbandment of the team since last year. He thinks he’s ruined his friends future.”

“That’s a heavy burden for a kid his age” Akira said.

“It may be true that Ryuji didn’t think things over before he made his choice, but I can’t fault him for what happened. Would you be willing to go talk to him for me?” she asked. “We have had this discussion dozens of times, I fear I’m starting to sound like a broken record to him.”

“Me?” Akira questioned “I don’t know what I would say to him.”

“You’ll do fine, I think Ryuji has taken a liking to you over the course of the evening” she smiled.

“I don’t know how much he likes me Mrs. Sakamoto, but I guess I can try.” Akira sighed and walked into the hall. He knocked on the teen’s door, but Ryuji didn’t respond.

He looked at Mrs. Sakamoto for support.

“Just go inside” she said.

“Alright Ryuji, I’m coming in.” he said as he opened the door. Once he stepped inside he quietly closed the door behind him and observed his new surroundings. The walls were covered in posters, the floor strewn with dirty clothes and the room had a vague odor to it. Old food somewhere? Akira had found that almost all teenage boys were slobs, himself having been one of the rare exceptions growing up. He looked up and saw Ryuji standing on the other side of the room staring out the window.

“Ryuji?” Akira asked as he stepped closer to the boy. “Ryuji, it doesn’t matter what happened in the past. I’m giving you a second chance to do things right.”

“It ain’t about that.” Ryuji replied.

“Then what’s the issue here Ryuji?” Akira question, not understanding the boy’s reaction at all.

Ryuji turned to face him with a look on his face was almost heartbreaking. He wasn’t crying, but it looked like he could at any moment.

“You’re pinning so much on me being the star of your new team, but I haven’t run in over a year. I’m out of practice and I don’t know if I will be able to get anywhere close to my old record again.” Ryuji sighed “The doctor says my leg is fine, but it still bothers me sometimes when I’m walking up stairs or I exert myself. I may not even be worth all the effort it will take to get me back in shape.”

Akira didn’t know what to say at first. His original reason for wanting Ryuji back on the team was the remarkable ability he had shown on last year’s team. With someone that talented the team could probably take nationals, and he would have gotten the credit for doing it. Here he was putting all that pressure on a boy who didn’t even know if he could compete again, and for what? A promotion? A raise?

He realized Ryuji had been right about him earlier on the rooftop, he had just been out for himself all this this time... No, he didn’t want to be like that. He realized now that he could make a difference in this boys life, he had the power to change things for the better. This was what teachers were supposed to do for kids wasn’t it? If that wasn’t a worthwhile goal, he didn’t know what was.

Akira placed his hands on Ryuji’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “Maybe you won’t be as good as you used to be. That doesn’t change my desire to have you on the team. You don’t have to be the star runner anymore if you can’t do it, all I want is for you try. If you need extra training to keep up with the others, I promise to be right there with you every step of the way. I won’t abandon you, even if you can’t compete anymore.”

And then Ryuji kissed him.

Akira’s mind went blank the moment the boys lips touched his own. He didn’t know what to do. Before his brain could react, instinct kicked in and he found himself kissing back. What was he doing? Ryuji was his student. He was kissing his student. Ryuji’s lips were a little chapped making the kiss feel rough, but the moist warmth was so inviting. The teen let out a small moan and Akira couldn’t help but slip his tongue inside, tasting the teen’s mouth. He was kissing his student. He was _french kissing_ his student and his mom was in the other room!

Akira’s eyes widened. _Ryuji’s mom was in the other room._ He quickly pushed Ryuji away and wiped the spittle from his mouth with his sleeve.

“Shit...” Ryuji panted.

“I should go,” Akira said “The first track meetup is tomorrow evening after classes end. You can still come if you want.”

Akira left the boy’s room without saying another word. He briefly thanked Ryuji’s mom again for the meal on his way out, lying to her about receiving an urgent phone call before exiting the apartment. The kiss he had shared with the boy replayed over and over in his mind the rest of the night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've outlined several more chapters for this story, but there are still some places where I'm totally lost on how I'm going to advance the plot. I'm afraid I might need to rely a little more on the canon story than I'd prefer, I just can't think of another scenario that will move the story in the direction I need. Hopefully that won't disappoint too many of you.
> 
> A lot of you giving me ideas for several characters that I'm unsure if I can work into the story I want to tell. Right now the major characters you can expect to see are Ann, Mishima (later on) and Kawakami. I'll likely add more characters as things progress, but they probably won't have a major role in the plot unless my plans for this story end up changing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira talks with Ann, Ryuji joins the track team, and the boys finally discuss that kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know a lot of you were asking about why Ryuji kissed Akira so suddenly last chapter. I actually wrote that part immediately after writing the kiss scene, but I felt like it would work better as part of chapter 3. In hindsight, I guess it would have been better to wait and post both chapters at the same time instead of letting chapter 2 just end the way it did. 
> 
> Anyway, I've done my best to fully explain things and I hope you're all satisfied with this chapter. Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts. ^^

Akira had intended to start today off by bringing a complaint about the way Kamoshida had been treating the students to the principal, but it was only when he already found himself back in gym class helping a first year boy off the floor after Kamoshida had knocked him down that he had been able to recall his original plans. His mind had been focused solely on one thing all morning: The kiss he had shared with a certain blond delinquent. He knew he would need to talk to the boy about it at some point, and that wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to.

It hadn’t been his first kiss with another guy. He had been attracted to other men in the past, even dating a few, but they had always been his own age. Akira even admitted to himself he found the teenager very attractive. If not for Ryuji’s immature attitude, Akira thought he could easily see himself falling for a guy like him. But not now. He was a teacher, and the boy was his student. His career would be ruined if he got himself involved with a student.

The day had seemed to pass quicker than yesterday, probably because he had so absentmindedly focused on the kiss and little else. It was lunch time when Akira made his way back through the school’s bustling halls towards the staff room when he ran into a familiar face near the stairs.

Was that the girl who had been on the rooftop with Ryuji yesterday? No it was definitely the same girl, she was easily the most beautiful girl in the school. Ann was intently focused on her phone, her face a bit uneasy. Akira was sure she hadn’t noticed him even though he was standing so close.

“Ann Takamaki, was it?” he tried to get the attention of the blond.

“Huh?” He had startled her. “Oh, you’re that new assistant coach working with Kamoshida” she signed.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, concerned by the look on her face.

She seemed hesitant to respond.

“Is this about the argument you were having with Ryuji Sakamoto yesterday?” he asked.

“No,” she sighed. “Yes. Sort of?” She didn’t seem to know how to explain it herself.

Akira frowned. “Well, which is it?”

“That depends on what you think of Kamosida...” the girl said, averting her eyes.

Officially Akira was supposed to support the other Shujin staff members when a student was disrespectful towards them, but this was Kamoshida. He immediately recalled the bullying and abuse he had witnessed and even been victim to the previous day, and Ryuji’s story of how the man had treated the track team and injured him. It made him feel angry.

“He’s a piece of shit.” Akira said, emulating Ryuji’s words from the previous night.

Ann burst out in a fit of laughter, drawing the eyes of nearby students and faculty members. She quickly regained control of herself out of embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, you sounded exactly like Ryuji just then!” she exclaimed with a smile on her face.

“Maybe he’s rubbed off on me a little.” Akira grinned, the kiss between himself and the boy once again flashing through his mind.

“Hopefully not too much, we don’t need him dumbing down the teachers too.” she laughed.

“So what’s your deal with Kamoshida?” Akira asked.

Ann’s face darkened. “My friend Shiho recently joined the girl’s volleyball team. She’s terrible at it though.” She paused. “I know this sounds ridiculous, but I’m afraid Kamoshida is just using her to try to get me to go out with him...”

“Is he sexually harassing you?” Akira asked

“I... I don’t know,” she trailed off “He used to find any excuse he could to make me come to his office. He never touched me or anything, but when I was alone with him he would start these really creepy conversations with me. He eventually stopped after I gave him my number, but now he texts me all the time. None of his messages have been outright sexual, but they freak me out almost as much as being alone with him did... I get the feeling he’s just biding his time.”

“I won’t let him do that to you.” Akira said, anger building within him.

“Please don’t say anything to him about it. If you did, there’s no telling what he might do. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to Shiho or someone else because I told you this.” Ann said desperately.

“I can’t just stand by and watch while something like this happens” Akira argued.

“You don’t understand,” Ann said urgently, regretting opening up to Akira “It’s not just me or Shiho, any number of students could be the ones to take the brunt of his wrath if you rock the boat. Besides, it’s not like the rest of the staff cares anyway, everyone overlooks it because of all of Kamoshida’s accomplishments.”

Akira couldn’t believe his ears. There was no way the whole staff knew what was going on here and turned a blind eye to it.

“Just leave Kamoshida to me, I can deal with this without causing a lot of trouble. Just look at what happened to Ryuji when he fought back. You’d just end up the same way.” Ann said, clearly upset.

Akira just stared at her in silence. This was unbelievable. He didn’t know what to say now.

“You seem... very close to Sakamoto-kun.” Akira finally spoke. He was genuinely curious about any information he could get about the boy, but in truth he was only trying to end the awkward silence between them.

“Oh...” the girl seemed surprised by his question. “Is this about the track team?”

Akira nodded. “What can you tell me about him?”

“I’ve known him so long I’m not sure where to start.” she paused “He’s not a bad guy if that’s what you’re wondering. I don’t think he has a lot of friends anymore, not after what happened last year.”

“Are you not his friend?” Akira questioned.

“Kind of?” she muttered “We were pretty close in middle school, but we drifted apart when we got to Shujin. Ryuji was always outgoing, he’s not really the loaner type. It’s gotta be killing him having no one to talk to around school anymore.”

“I see...” he muttered.

“I’ve tried to talk to him a few times lately, but he just argues with me about Kamoshida. He believes the rumors going around that I’m dating that bastard.” Ann said sadly.

“There are rumors?” Akira questioned.

Before she could respond, the bell rang cutting their conversation short.

“Looks like we have to go.” Ann said “I’ll talk with you more later if you want.”

“I’d like that.” Akira said. This was a conversation that he wouldn’t be able to get out of his head the rest of the day.

“Ann,” Akira spoke as the girl tried to leave “I won’t let Kamoshida hurt you or your friend. I promise you that.”

 

* * *

 

 

As the final class of the day ended, one by one the members of the track team Akira had invited back showed up for the first practice. Nakaoka was first, the boy seeming to be the most enthusiastic about the new team. Takeishi and Kouki showed up together a few moments later.

Akira waited patiently to see if Ryuji would to show, not that he could blame the boy if he decided against it. He had looked for the boy in the halls earlier in the hopes he could talk to him about the events of last night, but he hadn’t managed to catch the boy. Akira didn’t think interrupting his classes for it was a good idea. Besides, if he did that he would have no choice but to call him into his and Kamoshida’s shared office.

“Well well, look who showed up.” Nakaoka said as several of the other boys began to jeer.

Akira turned to see what all the commotion was about and saw Ryuji walk into view. The two of them made brief eye contact and the blond immediately turned a shade of pink and had to look away.

“Well,” Ryuji began, his hand rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly “Here I am.”

“What are you doing here? Did you decide to come beat us up like your daddy does your mommy?” Nakaoka laughed.

R yuji growled at the boy  with a dangerous look in his eyes .  Akira knew immediately the  blond was still too hot headed to deal with the bullying  of his former friends on his own.

“Careful Nakaoka,” said Takeishi “If you make him mad he might break his leg trying to slug you.”

The boys laughed like a pack of hyenas, Akira rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“That’s enough, all of you!” Akira barked. “What happened on the team last year doesn’t matter anymore. I’m giving each of you a fresh start, and that includes Ryuji.” he said, giving the blond a knowing smile. Ryuji blushed a little yet again, but didn’t look away this time. “And the next person who brings up a team member’s family life will find themselves off the team.” he added.

“Humph. Looks like you’re the teacher’s pet.” Nakaoka spat.

“I ain’t a teacher’s pet!” Ryuji said angrily. Akira gave him a stern look and the boy seemed to calm down a little. “Whatever man, let’s just start practice.” Ryuji sighed, much calmer already.

As the other boys began their pre-run stretches, Ryuji slowly approached Akira.

“Thanks for that, I guess...” Ryuji said quietly.

“I’m glad you came.” Akira whispered to Ryuji.

“Yeah… Me too.” Ryuji replied awkwardly. The boy didn’t know how to act around Akira after what happened between the two of them last night.

Ryuji ran off to join the others, Akira not far away closely monitoring the team’s progress. He had expected more banter between the boys concerning Ryuji, but thankfully they had all seemed to listen to his previous warnings. Ryuji made a very understandable mistake, and he had paid for it. Akira didn’t want the boy to be punished any longer because of Kamoshida.

“Alright guys, I think it’s time.”Akira said after a while. “Today I’m going to time each of you individually to determine your starting performance. Consider this a warm up, don’t feel like you have to show off.” Akira urged the boys.

The group of boys argued among themselves briefly about who would be the fastest, but Akira noticed Ryuji just stood off to the side and kept to himself.

“Sakamoto-kun,” Akira said “You’re up first.”

“Alright I got this,” Ryuji said taking the starting position, eager to finally be doing something besides stretches.

Akira gave the signal and Ryuji took off. He had decided on a shorter distance run for the team’s first meetup, there was no need to overtax the them already, not when they had so much time before the first meet. It seemed to take the blond boy only a few moments to reach the ending marker, as he passed the finish line Akira took note of the time on his stopwatch. 21.2 seconds. Not a bad time, but the boy was clearly out of practice.

“Good work Ryuji” Akira yelled “Takeishi-kun, you’re up next.” He said, turning to the boy behind him.

As with Ryuji, it seemed to only take Takeishi moments to reach the finish line. Akira hit the stop watch and was impressed with the boy’s time. 19.9 seconds, this was better than Ryuji’s time.

Nakaoka was up next. He was the most confident in his own abilities out of the group, Akira assumed it was because Nakaoka had religiously kept up with his training even after the team was disbanded last year. The boy’s time of 19.2 seconds confirmed Akira’s suspicions.

The last boy, Kouki, finished with a time of 20.8 seconds. Akira sighed inwardly. Ryuji Sakamoto, the star runner of the team last year, was now the slowest member of the track team. Akira was not looking forward to breaking this news to the teen.

Akira gathered the boys around him and told each of them their scores. Nakaoka and and Takeishi were ecstatic to have preformed so well, Kouki was unhappy with his results but seemed glad to not have the worst score. Ryuji was pissed.

“This is bullshit!” the blond spat “Let me try again, I know I can do better!”

“Ryuji,” Akira began “the purpose of this was to test your performance at the start of the season. It’s something to look back on at the end of the year so you can see how you’ve improved.”

“I know that, but I can do better now! You just gotta let me try it again!” Ryuji insisted.

Akira frowned at the boy, but before he could respond another boy interrupted.

“Just let him do it,” Nakaoka said “Ryuji was the best of us on the team last year.” the boy admitted “If he says he can do better I want to see it, but if he can’t we’ll at least be able to laugh at his failure”

“Fine.” Akira said. Not to please Ryuji, but in the hopes that the blond could actually do better and shut Nakaoka up once and for all.

“Thanks” Ryuji said to both Akira and Nakaoka.

Ryuji once again took the starting position and awaited Akira’s signal. Once he gave it, the boy took off at a much faster pace than he had the previous time. _So much for not trying to show off_ Akira thought. Ryuji was clearly pushing himself much harder this time, Akira didn’t think this was a smart move given Ryuji’s previous injury and lack of training over the last year. As these thoughts ran through Akira’s mind, Ryuji suddenly tripped half way down the path. The blond fell hard, face first onto the ground and slid almost a foot before stopping.

“Ryuji!” Akira yelled and ran as fast as he could over to the boy. As he approached the teen he couldn’t see any obvious signs of broken bones, only a few scrapes and what would eventually become bruises.

“Ow...” Ryuji groaned and rolled over. Akira could see a small gash on the blond’s cheek where he fell.

“Are you alright? Did you injure anything?” The raven haired man said with concern.

“No,” he groaned again “I don’t think so.” he said with a frown

“Looks like all you’ve injured is your pride Sakamoto.” said Nakaoka laughing. The other boys joined in.

Akira sighed. “I’m taking Ryuji to the nurses office. The rest of you can run laps until the end of practice, beginning tomorrow I want all of you to focus on endurance.” he said as he bent over to help Ryuji get up.

“I don’t think I need to see the nurse,” Ryuji said “it’s just a few scrapes and bruises.”

“School policy is to have any student who may be sick or injured examined by the nurse.” Akira informed the teen and began to lead him inside the school building. Ryuji didn’t complain again.

The short walk to the nurses office was filled with silence, the blond teen mostly starring at the floor out of embarrassment for his actions. There weren’t many students in the halls either, it was getting late and most of them had gone home for the evening.

When the two finally made it to the nurses station, they found the room empty. Akira checked the time on his phone. He thought it a little odd that the nurse would go home before the school closed. It made much more sense to have her stay until all students left the building in case of an injury.

“It looks like we came here for nothin’,” Ryuji spoke “The school nurse has already gone home for the day.”

“Have a seat Ryuji,” Akira said with a smile “I’m trained in first aid, it’s part of the job requirement.”

Ryuji sighed, but didn’t argue. He took a seat on the nearest bed and waited while the older man gathered supplies.

Akira rummaged around in a nearby cabinet and quickly found a few different types of bandages and some antiseptic. _Take your shirt off_ Akira thought about saying as he turned to face Ryuji, but decided against it. It was unlikely the boy had any wounds beneath his clothing and he didn’t need a repeat of last night’s kiss, _or something else_ , in the middle of the school.

“Let me see your arm” Akira said to the boy. Ryuji reached out and let Akira begin his work of cleaning the cut.

“Ah, it burns!” Ryuji yelped and pulled away as Akira placed a cloth dampened with the antiseptic against the broken flesh.

Akira chuckled. “Of course it burns, what did you expect to happen?”

Ryuji frowned at him but gave his arm back. The blond tried not to react to the stinging sensations as the older man finished cleaning and bandaging his wound, but Akira could clearly see the boy fighting to stop himself from pulling away again.

“You’re too headstrong and impulsive, you know that?” Akira spoke as he began cleaning the cut on Ryuji’s face.

“Yeah… I know.” the boy winced.

“If you know, why don’t you try to change?” Akira questioned him.

“I dunno...” Ryuji groaned.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised something like this happened after yesterday. For most of the day you acted like you hated me, but then after we had dinner you kissed me.” Akira said as he applied a band-aid to the blond’s face “Why the sudden change of heart?”

“I don’t know!” Ryuji exclaimed and stood up, embarrassed that the kiss had finally been brought up.

“You don’t know why you kissed me?” Akira asked.

“No!” Ryuji said, his cheeks reddening.

“I’m not sure I believe you.” Akira said.

Ryuji stood there silently for a moment.

“Ugh.” The boy finally groaned. “You were there, and you were being so nice to me. No one’s ever been that nice to me before besides my mom. And you were standin’ so close, you just looked so freaking pretty all of a sudden,” Ryuji rambled on “I felt this tight pressure in my chest and it felt like I had to do something or my heart was gonna explode. Does that explain it for you? Because I don’t really get it myself!”

“‘Pretty’?” Akira’s mouth was agape “You think I’m ‘pretty’?” He had been called handsome many times in his life, but no one had ever called him pretty. At least not to his face.

“I don’t mean it in a bad way dude, you just got such a nice lookin’ face is all.” Ryuji muttered and kicked at the floor “And those eyelashes. They look almost feminine.”

“You’re not helping Ryuji.” Akira argued, a little offended by the boys choice of words.

Ryuji’s face dropped. “I’m sorry. This is weird for me too, ya know? You’re the first guy I ever thought somethin’ like that about and it’s making me feel like I’m some freak...”

A freak? Akira understood that feeling a little too well. He had experienced his own fair share of self doubts when it came to his sexuality when he was younger but by the time he was Ryuji’s age he had already come to accept himself. If only Akira had been a few years younger, he would be able to help Ryuji sort things out and come to terms with this. But that was impossible now, with Akira working as a teacher and Ryuji being his student. 16 was the age of consent in Japan, legally nothing could stop him from pursuing a relationship with teen if he wanted, but the school had it’s own rules. The one thing he was sure of was that nothing could come of the kiss they had shared last night.

“You’re not a freak Ryuji.” Akira said softly “It’s natural for boys like you to want to express their sexuality, but I don’t think I’m the right person to help you with this.” _As much_ _fun as that would be_ Akira thought.

“Whaddya mean boys like me? I’m not gay!” Ryuji insisted “I still like girls, I even jerked off to them last night!”

Akira sighed. “Whatever label you prefer doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you find a healthy outlet to explore these feelings. I can’t be that for you.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Ryuji said “But you’re the only dude I’ve ever felt like kissing before.”

“Someday I’m sure you will meet a boy your own age who will make you feel the same way.” Akira replied.

“I dunno about that dude,” Ryuji said “Look, if it’s alright with you I’m fine with just pretending the whole thing never happened. It’s been nothin’ but a big headache for me all day.”

“Then we have a deal.” Akira said. He felt a little disappointed things would end this way, but he was also relieved he wouldn’t have to deal with the awkwardness of a student crushing on him.

“So what about my place on the track team?” Ryuji questioned, eager to change the subject.

“What about it?” Akira asked.

“Do I really belong there anymore? I was the worst one on the team today, and when I tried to go all out my leg just seized up and I fell.” Ryuji said. “I was an embarrassment...” he mumbled.

“What were your real reasons for agreeing to return to the team?” Akira questioned the boy.

“I guess… I wanted to make my mom proud of me again,” the blond paused “And you were so enthusiastic about having me join, I didn’t want to disappoint you by saying no.”

Akira smiled at that. “If you remember, I told you yesterday if you couldn’t keep up with the rest of the team I would help you train. That offer is still on the table if you want to put in the extra work.”

“For real?” Ryuji asked.

“For real.” Akira smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I still don't know a damn thing about track. I'll probably try to avoid describing it in any more detail than I have in this chapter in the future. I haven't really found a good source of information about the sport on google and I don't want to make up stuff if I can avoid it, so I'll just leave those parts vague and try to cram more plot and character development in the story instead.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our boys get in some private training, Akira confronts the principal about Kamoshida, and Kamoshida makes a move against the team.

It was still dark when Akira knocked on the door to Ryuji’s and his mom’s apartment. He chose not to ring the bell, if the boys mother was asleep he would prefer not to wake her this early in the morning. Akira wasn’t sure how the woman felt about him dragging her son off so early in the mornings to go to a gym for training, but Ryuji had insisted yesterday that she wouldn’t mind as long as he wasn’t getting into trouble.

The door opened and Ryuji’s mother came into view. She was already dressed, wearing a uniform of some kind and Akira could smell something delicious coming from the apartment.

“Mr. Kurusu!” the older woman exclaimed and motioned him inside “Ryuji told me you would be picking him up this morning so I woke him up and made sure he was ready for you.” She pointed towards the teen asleep at the table, his face buried in a small plate of food. She hadn’t lied, the boy was already dressed for morning exercise and beside him were two bags, one for the gym and one for school.

Ryuji’s mother frowned at the sight of her son. “He’s not a morning person I’m afraid.”

“I can see that.” Akira smiled.

“You can have some breakfast before you go if you’d like.” She offered.

Akira gracefully declined, having already ate before leaving home this morning.

“Maybe next time then.” She signed and walked over to her sleeping son, giving him a small shake. “Ryuji” she said. The boy just moaned. “Ryuji!” She said again, much louder than before. “Wake up, your coach is here.”

The boy made a noise like a zombie as his head rose from the plate, a piece of egg sticking to the side of his chin. Akira couldn’t help but chuckle at the tired boy.

“What’re you laughin’ at.” Ryuji said sleepily.

“He’s laughing at you my dear boy,” She said as she grabbed a napkin and began cleaning her son’s face gently, careful of the scratch he had received yesterday. Akira noticed the bandage had been changed on both the boys arm and face. Probably not necessary for such minor wounds, but Akira guessed that wouldn’t really matter to a woman like Ryuji’s mother.

“Ryuji, I have to go to work soon. Since you’re going to be leaving before me today I want you to double check that you have your key so you aren’t locked out, alright?” The boys mother said with a smile.

Ryuji grunted sleepily at her.

“Ryuji.” She said with a displeased look on her face.

“Okay, okay...” he said and began rummaging around in his pocket before pulling out a small key and showing it to the woman.

“Good. Now finish your breakfast so you and Mr. Kurusu can get going.” Ryuji’s mom smiled at him before leaning in to give him a kiss on the forehead.

It only took the teen a few moments to finish the rest of his meal, he had already eaten most of it before falling asleep. As he cleaned the last few bites of his meal from his plate the boy’s mother gave him a quick hug and told him goodbye before the two left the small apartment.

The car ride from Ryuji’s house to the gym was silent, Ryuji leaned against the door and tried to go back to sleep while Akira focused on navigating through the early morning traffic. When they finally pulled into the parking lot of Akira’s gym, Ryuji noticed just how empty the place was.

“Are they even open?” the boy questioned “There don’t seem to be many cars here.”

“They’re open 24 hours a day, we’re just a little early for the morning rush.” Akira said. “I’m sure there will be at least one or two other people in the building besides us anyway.”

Ryuji nodded and reached to open the car door.

“Wait a second,” Akira said. “Take this with you.” The older man thrust a laminated card into Ryuji’s hands. “This is your gym membership card. Don’t lose it, you will need it to get through the doors.”

Ryuji studied the card briefly.

“This says I’m on a family plan?” Ryuji questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m friends with some of the staff.” Akira smiled. “As far as the gym is concerned, I’m a 23 year old with a 16 year old son now.”

“I ain’t calling you daddy.” Ryuji said ironically.

Akira laughed. “Come on _son_ ,” he said “We have training to do.”

The two of them entered a small reception area with an empty desk at the side of the room. The desk was empty at this time of day, Akira ignored it and walked to another set of glass doors in the middle of the room, sliding his membership card into the electronic reader at the side. They entered into a large open area filled with more exercise equipment than Ryuji had ever seen. This was no Protein Lovers, this gym was gigantic.

“So what am I doing, hittin’ the treadmill?” Ryuji asked as he enthusiastically climbed on one of the machines.

“Nope.” Akira smiled “Strength training. Right now we need to focus on building the muscles in your legs. If you want to train your other muscles you can, but our priority will be your hamstrings, glutes, quadriceps, and calve.”

Akira lead the boy over to a set of barbells and picked out one of the lighter weights.

“We’re going to start with barbell squats.” Akira said “I assume you’re familiar with the workout?”

“Yeah, I just gotta put that set of weights on my shoulders and bend down with my knees, keeping my back as straight as possible.” Ryuji replied.

“Alright, let’s see what you got. Go for 15 reps.” Akira said as he moved behind the teen to monitor him.

Ryuji lifted the weight and positioned it on his shoulders, it was an easy thing to do since Akira had chosen the smaller weight. He bent down and did a couple reps. They seemed easy enough to do in the beginning, at least until Akira stopped him.

“Your feet are too close together and you’re moving your hips back too much. Not to mention your back isn’t straight.” Akira said. The boy stood up straighter and spread his feet farther apart and tried again.

“Much better.” The older main praised as Ryuji finally got into a workable rhythm.

“Are you keepin’ count dude?” Ryuji panted after completing several squats “’Cause I’m not.” The boy was starting to feel the workout now.

“Uh… Yeah.” Akira lied. In truth, he had become transfixed by the motion of Ryuji’s ass each time the boy bent down.

After Akira counted 15 squats, probably more than 20 in total if he included the ones the he lost track of, he had the boy take a brief rest.

“Ugh... My legs are already sore.” The teen complained.

“You haven’t really given them a workout in over a year, it’s to be expected.” Akira replied.

“Yeah, but I didn’t know it would be this bad. I’ve barely started and I feel like my legs are gonna fall off.” Ryuji groaned.

Akira chuckled. “Well I guess we can go for a lighter workout for the rest of your exercises, you being so out of shape and all.”

“I’m not out of shape, I’m just... de-trained.” Ryuji said.

“Is that even a word?” Akira laughed.

“It is if I make it one.” Ryuji insisted.

True to his word, Akira gave Ryuji easier workouts for the remainder of their time in the gym. The boy didn’t complain about muscle soreness nearly as much after each of the subsequent exercises and Akira thought he was making good progress. They had a long way to go, but they still had plenty of time to complete their goals.

“For the last workout, we’ll hit the treadmill for a bit.” Akira said finally. “Just run one kilometer. I don’t want you overworked, but you definitely need some extra practice running. I’ll join you if you want.”

“Let’s get to it then.” Ryuji said unenthusiastically, feeling tired after all the workouts Akira had made him do. It took only a short time for the two of them to complete their run on the treadmills. Akira had developed a fine sheen of sweat on his skin while Ryuji had considerably more, the armpits of the blonds t-shirt were visibly damp.

“We should hit the shower before we leave,” Akira said. “I don’t know about you but I’d rather not go around the school all day smelling like the locker room.”

“Finally,” Ryuji said happily. “This was one of the hardest workouts I’ve ever had. I used to be able to do so much more, but now I suck balls.”

“You did great, Ryuji” Akira smiled. “You will get used to it again and slowly your routine will become easier.”

The boys walked into the locker room together, Akira casually removing his shirt as he entered.

“They gave you the locker right beside my own since we’re ‘related’.” He laughed and bent over to stash his damp shirt into his gym bag before slipping his pants off. He was now standing in nothing but his boxers.

“Wait, you’re stripping right here?” Ryuji gasped.

Akira gave the teen a funny look. “Yes Ryuji, it’s a locker room. That’s what it’s for.”

“Yeah but...” The teen trailed off.

“Ryuji, how can you be on a sports team and feel uncomfortable with nudity?” Akira questioned.

“I’m not uncomfortable with nudity,” the boy insisted “I’m uncomfortable with _your_ nudity.”

“I’m no different than any other guy Ryuji,” Akira sighed “But if it will make you feel better, I’ll cover up so you don’t see anything.”

Akira wrapped a towel around his waist before reaching beneath it to pull his underwear off.

“You coming?” He asked the boy.

The blond blushed and looked away. “Y-you go ahead to the showed. I’ll catch up.”

Akira knew he had made the teen uncomfortable. Thinking it best to just leave things alone, he shrugged and headed in. The shower was a large tile covered room with individual stalls for privacy, the room always had a faint sense of moisture in the air from its frequent use by the gym members.

Akira stepped into a stall and turned the water on. The warmth was exactly what Akira needed to unwind after his brief run. Unlike Ryuji, Akira hadn’t done a very difficult workout this morning. He imagined the boy would want to stay a while and let the warmth of the shower soothe his tired muscles. They had time for that, Akira had made sure of it. He didn’t want the boy to be so tired he wouldn’t be able to participate in this evening’s track meet.

It didn’t take him long to finish cleaning himself, he wrapped a towel around his waist again once he exited the shower. When he returned to the locker rooms he was surprised to find Ryuji somehow had finished before he had. _So much for soothing his tired muscles_ Akira thought. The blond’s had his back to Akira and his hair was still dripping wet, he had already put on a clean pair of underwear too, but he thought something seemed odd about the design on the backside.

“Ryuji, I think you put your boxers on the wrong way.” Akira laughed.

“Ahaha… So I did.” The blond chuckled nervously but didn’t look at him.

“Ryuji?” Akira asked “Is something wrong?” He stepped closer.

“No, no! Nothing’s wrong.” The blond said unconvincingly.

“You didn’t hurt yourself did you? Let me see.” Akira said and walked around to the front of the boy.

Akira saw Ryuji’s face was a bright pink and the boy suddenly hid his crotch with his hand, but it did very little to distract from the large bulge in the teen’s underwear. Ryuji had an erection.

“Oh,” Akira said, eyes wide. “I’ll... go get dressed over here then.”

 

After the two finished changing and left the gym Akira had to talk the boy out of walking to the nearest train station instead of getting in the car with him once again. Ryuji was too embarrassed from his earlier erection to say much, only Akira’s argument that the nearest train station didn’t provide an easily accessible rout to the school had convinced the blond.

Much of the car ride that ensued had been very awkward. Ryuji refused to speak to him for most of the trip, every time Akira had tried to reassure the boy he just brushed him off.

“Look Ryuji, this kind of thing is natural for guys. Even straight men sometimes get an erection in the locker room.” Akira said.

“Will you STOP talking about that?” Ryuji said with flushed cheeks.

About halfway to the school, Akira realized it would be bad to leave things between the two of them so uncomfortable. What if the boy didn’t show up for track practice again? All this effort would be for nothing. He decided maybe it would be best to take the boy’s mind off of what had happened with another topic.

“So… do you read any manga?” Akira questioned as the two came to a stop light.

Ryuji stared out the window, Akira wasn’t sure he was going to answer.

“Phoenix Ranger Featherman R.” Ryuji said without looking at him.

“What?” Akira questioned.

“Phoenix Ranger Featherman R. It’s a shonen manga based on the TV series.” Ryuji said again.

“I knew it was a TV series, I used to watch it when I was younger. I didn’t know they made a manga adaptation.” Akira replied. Phoenix Ranger Featherman R had actually been one of his favorite shows as a child, it was a long running series so Akira wasn’t surprised to find out Ryuji liked it.

“The manga focuses on the extended universe more than the main plot.” Ryuji said, a hint of interest showing in his voice.

“So who was your favorite ranger?” Akira questioned.

Ryuji blushed a little. “I don’t got one.”

“I always liked Feather Pink.” Akira said.

“What?!” The blond yelled in surprise.

“I thought she was the best written character out of the group, and I used to have a crush on the actress who played her on the show.” Akira replied.

Ryuji grinned. “I’m surprised you can admit that so easily.” He paused a moment. “She’s my favorite too.”

“Now there’s something we have in common.” Akira smiled.

The two continued to talk enthusiastically about the series, the characters they liked, favorite episodes and story lines, and Ryuji filled Akira in on things he had missed since he had stopped watching the show. It made the rest of their brief trip pass by so quickly it seemed only seconds had gone by since they began the discussion. More importantly, Ryuji had forgotten all about the incident in the gym this morning. When he exited Akira’s car he happily told the older man he looked forward to the evening’s track practice.

 

Akira began his day at work with a trip to see Principal Kobayakawa. He refused to let himself be distracted again, especially after the conversation he had had with the Takamaki girl. Today he was going to make sure those in charge knew just what the PE teacher was doing to the students at Shujin.

He knocked on the familiar wooden door and the principal’s voice gave him permission to enter.

“Kurusu-san,” the large man said with surprise “It’s early, shouldn’t you be helping Kamoshida monitor the gate?”

“Yes, Principal Kobayakawa.” Akira said “But Kamoshida is the reason for my visit this morning.”

“I see.” The principal said. “Well, have a seat.”

Akira began his story, telling the principal about several instances of bullying and abuse he had seen the PE teacher take part in, about the students who went home with bruises, about the rumors that he was hitting on female students, and about his suspicions that Kamoshida had broken Ryuji’s leg on purpose last year. The principal listened intently as Akira went on.

“One of the most disturbing things is what a student named Ann Takamaki told me yesterday. The man is harassing her, she even has evidence of him doing so on her phone.” Akira said, pleased that the principal had seemed to take his accusations seriously.

“Akira,” The principal gave a sad smile. “I think it would be best if you kept these complaints to yourself in the future.”

Akira stood up in outrage. “Principal Kobayakawa, you can’t be serious! I even told you there was evidence, I’m not making this up!”

“I’m aware of that.” The large man sighed. “Kamoshida may be difficult to work with, but the man does no real harm. His record of achievements makes up for his somewhat brutish nature.”

“He broke Ryuji Sakamoto’s leg!” Akira yelled in anger “That was real harm!”

“Sakamoto-kun attacked Kamoshida first, there were several witnesses who confirmed that.” He signed again. “The only reason that boy wasn’t permanently expelled is because I know what Kamoshida was doing to them.”

“If you know, why have you allowed it to go on?” Akira said, still fuming.

Principal Kobayakawa stood up and turned away from him. “Kamoshida makes this school a lot of money. His Volleyball team is unrivaled. The school board knows what he is, and they don’t care. If it came down to you or him, you would be the one to go. I suggest you drop this subject if you value your job here.”

Akira fell back into his seat, the conversation exhausting him more than any workout ever had. Ann was right, everyone knew but did nothing for their own stupid, selfish reasons. How could he have been so naive?

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Principal Kobayakawa told him to go so he could see to his new visitor. Akira got up and opened the door to leave, only for Kamoshida himself to barge in.

“What are you doing in here Kurusu?” The man questioned.

“Kurusu-san and I were discussing matters related to the new track team.” Principal Kobayakawa interjected. “Is there something you need, Suguru-san?”

“Oh good, that’s what I came here for as well.” Kamoshida gave a smile that made Akira feel sick to his stomach.

“I’ve looked through the students Kurusu-san has recruited to the new team and one of them doesn’t meet the school’s necessary requirements to participate in club programs. His GPA is too low.” The muscular man handed a document to the principal.

“What? Who is it?” Akira questioned.

“Ryuji Sakamoto.” Kamoshida smiled.

“That’s bullshit, Ryuji’s grades aren’t that low!” Akira growled.

“According to this, his grades have been slipping all year.” Principal Kobayakawa said scanning the document Kamoshida gave him “His most recent test scores show his GPA is one point below the school’s standard.”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” Akira said “The only reason you’re even bringing this up is because you don’t like him!” Akira let slip before he caught himself.

“Don’t be so petty,” Kamoshida said with a look of anger on his face “I care about the education of the students at Shujin, it’s only fair that Sakamoto-kun be held to the same standards as everyone else.”

Akira stared at the man with an angry glare in his eyes.

“Whatever the case may be,” Principal Kobayakawa spoke up. “Kamoshida is right. I cannot bend the rules for Ryuji Sakamoto. He will have to improve his grades before he can continue with track activities.”

 

The conversation he had with the principal stuck in Akira’s mind the rest of the morning. He was upset at the injustice of the school protecting Kamoshida despite knowing his crimes against the students, but what really ate away at him was the realization that he would have to tell Ryuji he couldn’t be on the team anymore. It had been him who convinced the boy to join, and now he would have to take that opportunity away from the teen.

It was fair, he guessed, no other student was allowed to play a sport if they couldn’t maintain a decent GPA, but forcing him off for being only one point below the limit was insanity in Akira’s mind. Let the boy stay on, give him a warning that he must improve his test scores or be kicked off. That’s what Akira would have done. The school didn’t see it that way though.

When lunch time rolled around he sat in the teacher’s office eating his meal with Kawakami, the frizzy haired woman had become friendly with him in his short time time at Shujin. Akira didn’t have much of an appetite after the day he had and it didn’t take her long to notice he wasn’t eating.

“Something wrong, Kusuru-san? You’ve barely touched your bento.” Kawakami questioned him.

“No, I’m fine.” Akira paused. “Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” the dark haired woman said as she took a bite of her lunch. “What’s on your mind?”

“What’s your opinion of Kamoshida?” He questioned.

“Problems in the gym class?” She asked, playing with her food with her chopsticks.

“You could say that...” He tailed off, unsure if he should reveal the full extent of the problem.

“Honestly, I don’t know much about him. He mostly keeps to himself.” She said taking a drink of her bottled water “Unlike you he doesn’t eat lunch with the rest of the staff so I rarely get to talk with him.”

“Do you like him?” He asked. “As a person I mean. That came out the wrong way.” He rubbed his neck awkwardly.

The woman chuckled at him. “I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t know him very well. He seems like a normal teacher from what I can tell. Some of the students are frightened by him, but I always assumed it was because he was so tall.”

So maybe the staff didn’t know about Kamoshida’s abuse. Akira wouldn’t be surprised to learn the principal was hiding it from them after he threatened to fire him for bringing it up this morning. Maybe there was something that could be done about Kamoshida after all, but he just didn’t know what yet.

“So why all the questions about Kamoshida? Is there a problem I can help with?” She asked.

Akira thought it best to avoid telling her about the abuse for now, he was unsure how the woman would react and he didn’t want to be the one responsible for getting her into trouble the same way he had himself earlier this morning.

“I’ll tell you another time, but there is something you can help me with if you want.” He replied.

“Sure, what is it?” She questioned.

“I need your help tutoring a student outside of class, a member of the track team whose grades are slipping.”

Kawakami sighed. “Is this about Ryuji Sakamoto?”

“How’d you know?” He wondered.

“I’m his teacher too.” She frowned. “I realized when you were looking for him the other day his grades would be an issue if you put him back on the team.”

“So, can you help him out?”

“I’m sorry, but no. There was a time when I would have said yes, but… Let’s just say I’ve learned where that can go...” The woman's face darkened. Akira knew there was a story to be told behind her words, but was unsure if he should push things. She just seemed so depressed all of a sudden.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you.” He apologized.

“No, I should apologize.” She signed. “You’re trying to help a student recover from downward spiral, and here I am too stuck in my past to give you the help you need.”

“Don’t feel bad about it, I understand you have your reasons.”

“I can’t tutor Ryuji for you, but maybe I can help you. I’ll gather some notes from his other teachers and give them to you, you can use them to tutor him yourself.”

“Me?” Akira questioned. “But I’ve never tutored anyone before.”

“Relax, it’s not that hard. Besides you seem like a smart guy, I’m sure it will be a breeze for you. I’ll have them by the end of the day, so come see me before you head to your track meeting this evening.”

The rest of their lunchtime had been pretty uneventful, Akira only started eating 10 minutes before the period was over so he didn’t have enough time to finish his meal before the bell rang.

PE with Kamoshida for the most part had been the same as usual, but the muscular man gave him several angry glances throughout the day. Akira knew he was angry for calling him out over Ryuji. He didn’t care though, he would help the blond boy improve his grades and show Kamoshida he could outplay him in this little game of his.

Once all classes had ended, Akira made his way back to the faculty office to meet up with Kawakami again. Upon entering, he found the frizzy haired woman arguing with Ms. Chouno.

“But you haven’t told me why you need them yet.” Ms. Chouno said aggressively.

“I said that I need them for a friend.” Kawakami argued. Akira got the feeling the two women weren’t fond of each other.

“Is this about the notes I asked for?” Akira interrupted the two women.

“Akira Kurusu? These notes were for you?” Ms. Chouno questioned.

Akira nodded.

“But you are just the assistant coach, why would you need them?” The woman persisted.

“I’m the coach of the track team as well,” Akira corrected her. “And I’m tutoring one of the members. I need to familiarize myself with the curriculum before I can be an effective tutor.”

“If that’s true, you are incredibly dedicated to your team.” She paused. “I can admire that. You may have a copy of my notes.”

She handed him a small folder.

“I copied this for Sadayo earlier, I was only going to give them to her if she told me her real reasons for wanting them.” Ms. Chouno said.

“Gee, thanks.” Kawakami replied, offended by the woman’s attitude towards her.

“The notes are for your eyes only Kurusu-san. Do not let any students see them, they include details on what will be on the next test.” Ms. Chouno warned him. “If any members of the track team that have not been doing well in my class suddenly get perfect tests scores I will fail them.”

“I understand. Thank you, Ms. Chouno.” Akira bowed slightly. He realized why Kawakami didn’t get along with the woman now.

“Follow me,” Kawakami said “I have the other notes you need on my desk.”

The two of them walked to the other side of the room and Kawakami presented him with several more folders thick with paper. He had a lot of reading to do tonight it would seem.

“Thanks again, Sadayo-san.” Akira said.

“Not a problem.” She smiled. “Like Ms. Chouno said, I really admire your efforts. If you can actually turn things around for this boy, I’ll be impressed.”

“I should go now, the track team meeting was supposed to start ten minutes ago.” Akira said and rushed out the door, giving Kawakami a brief goodbye.

As he made his way to the field the first thing he heard was yelling. He couldn’t quite tell what was being said, but he knew immediately it was Ryuji.

“You’re the slowest one on the team Sakamoto. You should just quit now!” A voice that was unmistakably Nakaoka said as he got closer.

He turned a corner and could finally see most of the boys grouped together, Ryuji off to the side by himself.

“I don’t give a damn what you guys think anymore, I’m staying on the team even if you hate me!” Ryuji growled at the teens.

“Face it, you don’t matter anymore. You lost your stardom when you tanked the team last year.” Nakaoka said.

“I don’t care about that, I ain’t running for the glory anymore. I wanna do better and make my mom happy again. I wanna make…” Ryuji trailed off. “You know what, it’s none of your damn business why I want to be here! I ain’t leavin’!”

“Whatever loser.” Nakaoka turned to walk away but stopped when Ryuji called out.

“Look. I don’t care if you like me anymore, but I admit I fucked up last year. It’s my fault you all lost your team and I’m sorry for that. I can’t make up for time lost but I’ll do better this time, you’ll see.”

Nakaoka stood there silently while he considered Ryuji’s words.

“You’ll have to work for it.” He said finally.

“I know that…” Ryuji whispered to himself.

Akira was surprised by the level of maturity he saw from the teen just now. Of all the things he had expected Ryuji to do, apologizing to the kids who had been bullying him the last few days wasn’t one of them.

He walked closer to the boy. This would be difficult to do.

“I saw that.” Akira startled the blond. “I’m proud of the way you handled the other boys just now.”

“Where’d you come from?” Ryuji said surprised.

Akira sighed. “Ryuji, we need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of feel like this chapter was a bit of a mess, but I couldn't really figure out how to fix that without making it even longer and it was too long as it is. Oh well. Hope you still enjoy it.


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